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Ontario wants U.S. court to lock out Asian carp

The Toronto Star

ARTICLE

By Tanya Talaga

Ontario wants to join the state of Michigan's legal fight against Illinois over its alleged failure to control the spread of the voracious Asian carp.

This Friday, lawyers representing Ontario will tell the U.S. Supreme Court the province should be allowed to participate in Michigan's effort to force Illinois to shut locks leading to the Great Lakes in order to stop the invasive fish.

Michigan is seeking an injunction to immediately close the Chicago-area shipping locks to prevent a potential ecological disaster if the carp, which can grow to over a metre long and weigh 45 kilograms, make their way through the waterway linking the Mississippi River to the Great Lakes.

New York , Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Ohio also support Michigan's challenge, which was filed by the office of Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, a Republican who is running for governor.

Carp pose a major ecological problem because they eat their weight in plankton and fish, stealing food from others such as Ontario's threatened freshwater mussels. Already, there is genetic evidence the carp have spread beyond an electrical barrier erected in the waterway to keep them out of Lake Michigan.

Opponents say closing the waterway would upset the movement of millions of tonnes of iron ore, coal, grain and other cargo.

On New Year's Eve, Ontario filed a motion supporting Michigan's case. On Friday, the court will start examining everything submitted in the case and decide whether Ontario can participate. Michigan's motion is to close the navigational locks in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal permanently.

Ontario has one of the world's largest commercial freshwater fisheries, the primary catch being perch, with $150 million in direct business annually, said Cansfield.

"They could potentially be a big problem," said Mark Carabetta, conservation manager at the environmental group Ontario Nature, pointing to two other invasive species introduced into the Great Lakes - the sea lamprey and the zebra mussel.